After a critical victory over Manchester United in the Women’s Super League, the Chelsea Women turn their eyes to the FA Cup with a trip to the semifinals up for grabs.
Since the Blues were defeated by Arsenal in the Conti Cup final, Emma Hayes’ side have responded just how everyone would have thought. A convincing win against Brighton and Hove Albion followed by a sensational goal that led to Chelsea pushing itself back to the top of the table sets up the FA Cup quarterfinal tie against Reading.
Not only is Sam Kerr one of the most prolific goal scorers in the world at the moment, but players like Melanie Leupolz, and Eve Perisset are on the top of their game among others at the moment. Lauren James has accumulated the most dribbles in the WSL so far this season at 23, one more than Manchester City attacker Lauren Hemp. With Erin Cuthbert out due to an injury against United, CFC had Jessie Fleming fill the role nearly seamlessly in the midfield. She was one of three players that concluded the match with a pass accuracy higher than 70 percent while collecting the most shot-creating actions in the 74 minutes on the pitch.
The Royals reached this round through two victories on spot kicks over Leicester City and Tottenham. Emma Mukandi netted the game-tying goal in the 102′ to set up the spot kicks against the Foxes. The Royals then put up 10 shots on target en route to a 5-4 win on penalties in a battle with Spurs. Since the calendar turned to March in the WSL, Reading collected a thrilling win over West Ham and a demoralizing four goal defeat to Arsenal at Meadow Park.
Chelsea’s Lauren James and Sam Kerr connection firing on all cylinders heading into FA Cup quarters
Exquisite from start to finish.@LaurenJamess22 🧬 @SamKerr1 pic.twitter.com/GHAWGf5Im4
— Chelsea FC Women (@ChelseaFCW) March 13, 2023
Kelly Chambers’ side, just like Brighton, has been a thorn in the side of the Blues for the past couple of seasons. The Royals have made it further than they have in the past two FA Cup campaigns. In the previous two seasons, Reading lost in the fifth round while it reached the semifinals back in 2019 where it lost to West Ham United.
With the win over the Irons, the Royals gave themselves a little cushion between them and the drop zone. Teams like this are not tasked with juggling four different competitions any time past the month of January.
Chambers has had the tendency to assemble game plans that challenge the Blues; a 3-2 win at Kingsmeadow back in December is an exceptional example there. The mood in and around west London seemed to have shifted into the direction of determination following the Conti Cup final defeat. The Londoners want to prove that they are capable of serial winning. It takes a lot out of a group of people to piece together consistency like this, but given the depth of this side this season, they are more than capable of achieving it.
Chelsea has made it past the quarters in seven out of the last eight FA Cups, missing out on the semifinals once when Hayes’ side was defeated by Everton 2-1 at Goodison Park. With the Gunners out of the competition, arguably the Blues biggest threat to a third straight FA Cup will not cause the west London side any problems in the final three rounds.
Led by youngster Emma Harries, and Welsh attacker Rachel Rowe, Reading possesses a team that is more the capable of giving a team like CFCW a scare. Given how this group of players have responded to defeat, the away outfit should exit the Madejski Stadium with a berth in the semifinals confirmed.